Dragons take first of three from AC Anderson County
Teams played Tuesday and will meet again April 27
Clinton’s Cam Britton gets back to first base under the swipe of Anderson County’s Morgan Clark during play Monday night at Jaycee Park. Anderson County hosted Clinton Tuesday night and Clinton is scheduled to host the Mavs again next Thursday (April 27) at the Fairgrounds. (photo:Ken Leinart )
“I was really emotional,” Stacy said after the Clinton High School baseball team outlasted crosstown rival Anderson County, 5-4, before a packed and spirited house at Jaycee Park. “Last year, we beat them in Game 1 and I wasn’t all that emotional.”
Stacy, the Dragons’ fourth-year head coach, certainly wasn’t about to give back the victory, but he knew it didn’t go particularly well for his team at times Monday.
“We were absolutely fortunate to win,” he said.
Clinton (13-9 overall, 4-1 in District 4-AAA) won despite being its own worst enemy. The Dragons committed five errors, including two in the top of the first inning.
The frame opened with Clinton left-hander Harrison Shelton retiring ACHS leadoff hitter Aydin Bond. Lane Fletcher then reached on an error and would later advance to third on an errant pickoff throw. Ty Wilson then drew a walk to put runners at the corners before Shelton induced a groundout and struck out Trent Strickland to avert damage and end the inning.
Clinton stranded a runner in scoring position after Isaiah Slaven reached with two outs.
The Mavericks (17-7, 5-1) had the bases loaded in the second. They would again, however, come out empty.
“They gave us some things and we didn’t take advantage of them,” Anderson County Coach Josh Boynton said. “We have to do a better job taking advantage of miscues, and we didn’t do that tonight.”
The loss ended the Mavs’ 13-game winning streak. The teams were to play the second of a three-game league series Tuesday night at Anderson County, but results were not available at press time.
“We’re about to find out what we’re made of after a loss, after we’ve won 13 in a row,” Boynton said. “The good thing about this is that we get to come back out and do this tomorrow.
“You don’t want to be too hard on these guys because they’re hard enough on themselves.”
Both teams played some shaky defense early. But it was Anderson County that failed to cash in.
“We had two on and one out in the first and then we had the bases loaded and nobody out and we didn’t score,” Boynton said. “If you score two or three runs there, it’s a whole different ballgame, because guys won’t be so uptight on defense.”
Clinton took a 1-0 lead in the second. Shelton led off the frame with a double and was lifted for courtesy runner Ethan Tinker, who scored on a single by Jackson Stiltner.
The Mavs pulled even in the third on an RBI single by Strickland to make the score 1-1.
The Dragons regained the lead with a pair of runs in the third as Slaven came up with an RBI single and Garrett Lee drove in a run on a sacrifice fly.
The Mavs took the lead in the fifth on an RBI single by Strickland and a two-run single by Gavin Hill to make the score 4-3.
The Dragons scored two in the sixth. Nik Kidd had an RBI single. Sam Raley was then hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to drive in what would be the eventual winning run.
On the mound, Shelton threw a complete game. He allowed four runs (two earned), seven hits and two walks. He had seven strikeouts.
He also picked off the tying run in the seventh.
“Harrison pitched his butt off,” Stacy said. “He didn’t have his best stuff but he pitched his butt off.”
Clinton wins Sunday: The Dragons knocked off Pike County Central (Kentucky) 7-1.
Mavs defeat Grace Christian Academy: ACHS defeated the Rams 6-1 in Knoxville Saturday.